As AI-powered tools proliferate, ecommerce businesses can leverage them to streamline business processes including customer acquisition, content generation, data analysis, and the creation of personalized customer experiences. The right AI app for you will depend on your needs and budget, but here are some of the best AI tools for business.
Best AI tools for productivity
AI technology promises to free up humans to focus on the work they do best. That’s especially true for these AI tools aimed at boosting productivity.
Notion: project management
Notion is an all-round project management tool with powerful AI tools across its functionality. The Projects tool, for example, leverages AI for streamlining workflows, automatically checking off completed items, and generating reports. The Notion AI assistant can summarize notes, call out takeaways, make a list of actionable to-dos, and more.
Notion offers a free version with limited features like a collaborative workspace and integrations with other services such as Slack. Paid plans start at $8 per month, per user, when billed annually. Notion AI is an additional $8 per month, available as a paid plan add-on only.
Otter.ai: transcription and note taking
Otter.ai can transcribe audio files so you can focus on the conversation at hand, whether it’s a team Zoom meeting or an in-person interview. Transcription happens in real-time, and Otter fully processes the audio a few minutes after the recording is complete. Once audio files are processed, the AI timestamps conversations and organizes them by speaker, automatically tagging that person throughout the rest of the document once you tell the software who each voice belongs to.
Otter also automatically creates a summary of the conversation, complete with headers and blurbs that capture the main topics discussed and questions asked. It also breaks down the percentage of time each contributor spent speaking, and you can search the transcript for any word or name.
A free version of Otter offers limited capability and 300 monthly transcription minutes at 30 minutes per conversation. Paid plans start at $10 per month, billed annually.
Best AI tools for marketing
Effective marketing requires understanding your target audience, reaching them where they are, and engaging them to become customers and remain so over time. These AI marketing tools can help.
HubSpot: an all-in-one marketing platform
The key features of HubSpot’s platform include marketing automation, customer relationship management (CRM), and sales functions. AI tools pop up across the platform, automating tasks like email marketing campaigns and lead-nurturing. HubSpot’s AI tool generates sales outreach emails, marketing copy, site blog posts, meta descriptions, social media posts, calls to action, and even entire websites or landing pages using a text prompt.
The AI also uses sales and customer management data integrations to provide insights and personalize customer interactions. HubSpot does offer some free AI tools for marketing content, and charges different prices for different products. Paid marketing product plans start at $800 per month billed annually.
Chatfuel: chatbot creator
Chatfuel lets businesses easily set up an AI chatbot to engage customers on its brand website, as well as on the three major platforms owned by Meta—Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp. Companies can customize the flow of chats without any coding knowledge, and the AI engine uses natural language processing to identify keywords and conduct a natural-sounding conversation with the customer.
You can also opt to have Chatfuel automatically pop up a message when a customer visits your site or social media page. The AI chatbots can collect customer data and re-engage or follow up with the client later to nurture the existing relationship or convert them into a customer.
Chatfuel offers a free limited-trial marketing tool for up to 50 conversations. Paid accounts with more conversational AI features and other benefits begin at $14.99 per month.
Best AI tools for creative work
Advanced AI-powered solutions can complement your own creative work—helping with brainstorming content ideas or designing your mobile apps—or generate completely new works in the form of video clips and other content.
Shopify Magic: copywriting and editing
If you’re a Shopify user, you can use an AI-powered suite of tools across the Shopify platform. Shopify Magic helps users write, edit, and optimize content including blog posts, email campaigns, and product descriptions. Many of the functionalities, including product descriptions and email copywriting, are also available in multiple languages, including English, Spanish, French, and Chinese (simplified).
Jasper: content creation
Jasper is an AI-driven platform that can supercharge the content-creation process, generating copy ranging from SEO-optimized content to punchy Instagram captions. Chief among Jasper’s AI features is its ability to learn your company’s voice and maintain it across the content it creates.
You can select either a brand tone of voice or have Jasper scan existing assets like your website, style guide, and product descriptions to learn about your style. With more expensive plans, you can set different tones for different channels and audiences. For example, you might select one tone for executive speeches and another for blog posts.
Jasper can also optimize existing content for search and check for grammar. And, its AI image generator lets you create images to post alongside your content or for any other use. Paid plans begin at $39 per month for one login and brand voice.
Pictory: video content and editing
Pictory is an AI video generator, as well as an automated video editor. Simply copy and paste a blog post URL, dedicated video script, or other text, and Pictory will create high-quality videos to go along with it. The videos use stock footage, images, AI voice overs, and background music, and incorporate your company’s custom branding.
You can also use Pictory if you have an existing video file you want to edit—like a webinar, a podcast recording, or a Zoom town hall. Pictory pops up a transcript and lets you edit the video simply by deleting and moving text. The AI technology can also automatically remove silences and filler words like “um” and “uh.”
The service offers a free trial for three video projects of up to 10 minutes each, and paid plans start at $19 per month.
AI tools for business FAQ
How is AI used as a business tool?
Businesses can leverage AI tools in many ways: automation to reduce time spent on repetitive tasks, AI-powered chatbots, marketing optimization, and more.
How can I use AI to grow my small business?
When used strategically, AI can help small businesses grow. Automating repetitive tasks like data entry and invoices can free up time for more skilled work. Small businesses with limited budgets can use AI-powered data analytics and customer relationship management (CRM) tools to engage with their clients, whether through automated email campaigns or customer service chatbots. You can also use AI to generate website content and other marketing copy, including social media and blog posts.
What is the best AI tool to write a business plan?
Several AI products advertise their ability to create business plans. Some of these tools, like Upmetrics.co, specifically focus on business plan generation; others are writing assistants that can help create clear, organized content for your plan. Remember, while AI can complement and streamline your work, it is not a replacement for expertise and market research.
